SQL Manager 2005 is compatible with any Firebird version up to 2.0 and InterBase version up to 7.5, supports all of the latest features and offers plenty of powerful tools for experienced users to satisfy all their needs.

In the newest program version the ability to register multiple local servers has been added. Also a lot of improvements and bugfixes have been made.

“I’m very happy that Jim, Ann and Taneli have joined MySQL AB,” said Michael “Monty” Widenius, the company’s co-founder, in a statement.

“There is plenty of work to go around, and with their combined experience, they can help us deliver on all the plans that we haven’t had time to pursue yet — and also supply us with lots of fresh new ideas.”

Ann: I plan to make my best efforts for both companies and build the reputation of Open Source Databases and Open Source as a better model for doing business. The database market is huge and the availability of high quality open source databases is accelerating the growth. There’s plenty of room for Firebird and MySQL and PostgreSQL and Ingres and CloudScape and SQLite and all the rest. In specific, the differences in licenses and configurations of MySQL and Firebird mean that they appeal to different segments of the market.

FBNews: Can you tell us if Netfrastructure will be open sourced by MySQL? If don’t so, what do you think is the currently role of Netfrastructure in the actual MySQL AB business?

Ann: At the moment, no one knows. MySQL hired Jim for his mind and his track record, not for the 17″ stack of listings that are Netfrastructure.

FBNews: What is Jim currently job in MySQL AB? Will he only work in Netfrastructure improvements or is he going to participate in MySQL database development?

Ann: He’s also a senior architect.

FBNews: Do you think MySQL will use Jim’s expertise to create its own full featured MySQL engine, considering that now Oracle has InnoDB?

Ann: Certainly, MySQL recognize the benefits of a transactional backend. They hired Jim because he designed and implemented three transactional engines: Rdb/ELN, InterBase and the Netfrastructure engine called JSTar.

FBNews: Can you explain to the common users what are the major conceptual and architecture differences between Netfrastructure and Firebird?

Ann: Sure.

First, Firebird started as a C program and is only gradually adopting serious object discipline. All of Netfrastructure is designed and build as objects. The code looks completely different.

Second, Firebird relies on careful write directly to the database to maintain on-disk consistency at every point in its operation, eliminating the need for a recovery process.JStar writes data changes to a log file – logged changes are gradually propagated to the database. After a crash, a recovery process brings the database to a consistent state before restart.

Third, Firebird is multi-generational on disk. JStar is multi-generational in memory, but only the most recent committed data is stored on disk. This reduces the cost of garbage collection and greatly increases the memory usage.

Fourth, Firebird has a tiny memory footprint for a relational database. Data is cached only as it occurs on pages. JStar maintains an in-memory record cache with version chains.

FBNews: Many times you are referenced by the community as the InterBase/Firebird “mother”. With the recent events, can we expect that Firebird is getting orphan?

Ann: Firebird has dozens of parents – Paul, Dmitry, Arno, Helen … It can never be an orphan again. And I’m not leaving. I may cut down on consulting so I can be more annoying on the lists to make up for Jim’s cutting back there.

FBNews: In your vision, what are the benefits and loss (if any) to Firebird project with all the recent moves?

Ann: Not much of either, frankly. This really isn’t about Firebird, it’s about Netfrastructure and Jim. The lists will hear less from Jim, but he’s promised to lurk on architecture where he has most to contribute. His work on Vulcan is done except for some bug fixing that’s included in everyone’s plans. The integration will go more smoothly without him, I suspect.

“MySQL and Firebird will continue as two distinct code bases,” said Steve Curry, a spokesperson for MySQL, in an e-mail exchange.
“Any MySQL projects that [Starkey] is involved in will be based on new work, not re-use of existing Firebird or InterBase code. Firebird is a fine product, one that we do not see as a competitor.”

The invoicing of the year 2005 was of 1,68 billion dollars, growth of 10% compared to the previous year. Of this sum, 46% had come of the Americas region, where Brazil is inserted. In Brazil, the growth was of 22%. Read more here (in portuguese).

As you should know, SAS is the company who sponsored VULCAN development. They use a customized engine of Firebird in their products.

“It’s not clear at this stage precisely what roles Starkey or Harrison will have at Uppsala, Sweden-based MySQL, but the blogoshere is alive with suggestions that they will help the company to plug the perceived transactional engine hole left following Oracle’s purchase of Innobase Oy in October 2005. Innobase was home to InnoDB, MySQL’s storage engine of choice.”

dbdesc 1.4 (document you database) is ready and available for download. This new version adds a lot of new features: a report viewer, syntax highlighthing, PDF export and much more. Take a look at What’s New.

Lisa Vaas writes about the options for MySQL. She quotes one enterprise user as saying: “Should we be wrong … we’ll probably just switch to using PostgreSQL or Firebird or some other system that meets our needs at the same price point, and continue to invest our meager department budgets on more important things than Oracle licenses.”